Contendah Teaser

FESCH.TV INFORMIERT:

Contendah is a portrait of a family dealing with complications of passing down legacies in the face of early onset dementia. The film examines the life of Charles Singleton, a once rising undefeated light heavyweight boxer from Beaufort, South Carolina – whose career was cut short just before his first title shot. Comprised of vérité scenes, interviews, audio recordings and archival footage spanning a decade, the story details Charles’ multiple brushes with boxing fame, his close relationships with Joe Frazier and Evander Holyfield, his present day battle with dementia pugilistica and his fight to preserve and pass down his most prized memories to his young son, Caleb. At once stark and poignant, the film’s undercurrents of perseverance and love – for family, for culture, for historical legacy – give us hope of what is possible to achieve, even in the face of seemingly insurmountable odds.

Contendah is an intimate look into the effects of neurodegenerative disease. We travel alongside Charles, his wife (Krystal Singleton), and Caleb as the family navigates a path through doctors’ appointments, multiple healthcare facilities and day-to-day life. Woven into this journey is also a parallel narrative of Charles’ West African Gullah roots. Brought to life by Charles’ sister Anita (aka Aunt Pearlie Sue), the film reveals a direct correlation between Charles’ desire for his memory to live on through his son and the struggle of the Gullah people to preserve their history for future generations.